forgot to add, Im asking now cause I'm hoping to take advantage of fall deals!

If it's the NW corner, I would go with part-shade lovers. How dry is the area? Try brunnera, hostas, ferns, particularly if it isn't too dry (or amend, amend, amend while you're out there digging anyway). Japanese anemone would look nice there and give you a shot of fall color.

For a nice texture contrast, you could edge with sedge (rhyme not intended...) or Liriope muscari, I like the effect of ferns against grass-like foliage. Or ferns or grass-like foliage with bergenia. Bergenia is a t-o-u-g-h plants, and I love the textural effect of the cabbage-like leaves, which are tinged with red in the fall. Fill in with some annuals in the summer.

Just a few of lots of possibilities...

I have a few things under a lilac that grow extremely well that could work for you. A lot of them will be the same things mxk recommended. Hydrangeas like the area. Particularly hydrangea macrophylla varieties (have tried arborescens but didn't get enough blooms for me to keep them there). I also have anemones, brunnera, ferns, heuchera, heucherrela, and astillbe who are all thriving in that area. I do not have Bergenia under a lilac but I have it under a maple so you know it'll do fine under a lilac.

As for how close to a lilac - I have plants under the drip line but not right up against the tree. I wish I could tell you what variety I have but unfortunately these came from my mother-in-law and she could not remember what they were.

Not too macuh new to add. I would second the recommendation for hydrangea macrophylla varieties (Endless summer is my favorite, and you can also try the city line series which are slighly smaller). I have 2 endless summers under a locus tree. They bloom from May and the flowers are still there (this year is hard due to the spring frost and hot summer). But you want to them where they do not get too much afternoon sun, other wise you need to water them more.

Once you have 1-2 hydrangeas planted, you can fill in with others such as hostas and heucheras on the side where they do not get too much afternoon sun, and day lillies where they get afternoon sun. If you want to fill in quickly, get 1 or 2 big hostas (saw Hosta Winter Snow at our Home Depot today. These grow fast like their parent Sum and Substance). They also have some ones with fragrant flowers.

Vivian

Sorry to be a party-pooper, but I think that your bed is pretty full already; once those plants have a couple of years in the ground, there isn't going to be room for a hydrangea's roots. If it were mine, I might tuck a couple smallish perennials towards the edge, but leave as much room as possible for the shrubs' roots to grow. Just MHO.

I should clarify, the only thing staying in the bed are the arbor vitae, the lilac tree and the pieris. The calla lilies are going (not enough sun) as are the roses (also not enough sun). So its almost a blank slate.

Not a hosta lover and the ones I do have seem to be eaten by some critters. I have two pots of silver oats grass, I haven't planted yet. Might put these in with some hydrangeas as suggested. The variegated liriope might also be a great idea to edge the bed.

Its not too dry because there is a sprinkler in there somewhere. Never tried ferns, brunnera or bergenia so this might be a good time for it.

Right now your bed has one of each of 3 different things (when the things you want to remove are subtracted.) Do you have arborvitae, pieris or lilac somewhere else in your garden that's visible from here? It's difficult to make recommendations with only one small piece of the overall garden pictured, but I find I want to see some repetition or continuity or relationship among the plants in this bed as well as between this bed and the rest of the garden. I have a feeling that this is why you are feeling that this is "one last desolate bed."

I don't think that I would want to introduce many other kinds of plants regardless, such as both hydrangeas and liriope. My preference would be for one kind of groundcover to tie things together, perhaps one of the short all green Leucothoes which would echo the pieris in leaf texture or Microbiota decussata which would sort of echo the foliage texture of the arborvitae but provide winter color contrast. Alternatively, a low-growing groundcover that will provide a background to your 3 featured plants might work, particularly if you could use it in other beds to provide some tie to the rest of the garden. I have Veronica 'Georgia Blue' growing in a mostly shade garden under a lilac. For most of the growing season it provides a delicately textured background, with a couple weeks in spring when it's a river of blue. It's shallow rooted and doesn't seem to bother any of the plants it wanders around and doesn't need deadheading or any other care.

Here is a different pic of the bed, second pic to follow in next post. The lilac is probably closer than it should be to arborvitae but not moving it now. Wife loves it where it is. Arborvitae is part of a series planted around patio and ties in well. The roses you see and calla lilies in the corner are going. The pieris is at the corner by the steps in the shade. The dwarf alberta spruce on the other side of the steps is also to be replaced but probably not till spring (mite problem)

The microbiota decussata is a fascinating plant. Never even heard of it before. I have lamium white nancy around the base of a JM in another maple and it makes for great contrast. Was also considering planting something in a row along the brick wall of patio along with current plan of planting mainly along outer edge of bed.

second pic.

Also would like to use variegated plants if possible.

I like nhbabs' groundcover suggestion. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Veronica prostrata (sometimes sold as Veronica repens, according to the literature, but make sure it's prostrata.) It becomes a gorgeous periwinkle carpet in the spring and does a great job of preventing weeds.

The first thing I would do would be to move the lilac. There is no reason to place it in a bed, it seems to me like there is enough place for it elsewhere. It is attractive like for 5 days? or 6-7 max? The rest of the year the only function for it would be to drink all the water from other plants. I cut the surface roots of my Thujas with a shovel without any damage to them. If the pieris is thriving , it means the soil is suitable for rhododendrons, which would look lush all year round.

The lilac is good for 2 weeks almost. Aside from that I completely agree with you wieslaw. Keeping the lilac is a compromise with my wife and the price I pay for time spent in the yard gardening. While the veronica ground cover is probably the right thing to do from a design standpoint, planting beds are at a premium here and I would like to plant things with a variety of textures and foliage.

Groundcovers are boring and uninspired when used to fill beds IMO. They serve their purpose in certain locations, but even with a bed that size there are lots and lots of interesting possibilities. Even if you go ahead and remove the lilac, you need various plants heights and textures to keep the bed visually interesting. The lilac is serving as a small tree, if I understand correctly, so I would leave the lilac. So what if it only blooms for a couple weeks? If it's healthy overall and functioning primarily as a tree, let it stand as a tree = adds visual height to the bed.

So yes we will be keeping the lilac. I'm just having trouble visualizing the layout and what to plant. I don't have lot of shade plants. A lot of what has been mentioned are groundcover type plants ie bergenia, Veronica, brunnera etc and will definitely incorporate these but want some height as well.

Hydrangea Light-O-Day has the variegated leaves you want and the height. Mine has not bloomed anywhere near as much as the non-variegated varieties but I still love it for the foliage.

Unless you fill every square inch of the bed with plants of various heights, you might still consider a groundcover in bare spots to tie things together.

If you want some height in a perennial for part shade, you could try a variegated Solomon's Seal. The cream & green leaves look smashing next to the dark dense green of arborvitae. The vase-like arching shape of the overall look of VSS is unusual and a nice contrast as well & the dangly cream flowers are nice in early spring, but must be planted up close to be seen.

I have a combo of the Variegated Solomon's Seal, surrounded by Bergenia (Bressingham something or other), fronted by some purple heuchera and an almost totally silver pulmonaria and a painted fern in a similar spot to yours on the northeast corner of my house.

I like to tuck in a deep pink or red impatien here or there after I clean out the area in the spring for some summer color. The bergenia has lots of reddish color in both spring and fall (it gets smashed down by snow in winter in my climate, but always surprises me by popping its big leaves back up early each spring). The Variegated Solomon's Seal can take awhile to mature, but makes a very stately impressive planting in a few years.